A dance of Shadow and Light: Sidestories
by Ocadioan
Summary: These are all the stories that I wanted to write, but could find no way of including into the pace of the actual storyline. I may be persuaded to write suggested ideas for chapters in this too, assuming that the ideas are interesting and fits into the established storyline.
1. Timeline

This is my official timeline from my own notes to help my readers keep track of the events. And in case you are wondereing, ADG and BDG stand for After- or Before the Death of Galbatorix.

I have had to omit certain events from between 171 ADG and 246 ADG that will not be revealed until later, but I will be updating it as need be.

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Timeline

21 BDG(Winter) – Mercury is born in our world to a different name

18 BDG – Mercury's parents commit suicide by drinking mercury and try, but fail, to do the same to Mercury

3 BDG – Mercury changes his last name to Iridium

1 BDG – Mercury is brought to Alagaësia

0 – Galbatorix dies

1 ADG – Eragon and Arya depart for the east

2 ADG – The Disaster of Bullridge happens

11 ADG – Mercury meets Elva again

20 ADG – Mercury and Elva become romantically involved

32 ADG – Mercury orders Elva's death, initiating the Decade of Bloody River

51 ADG – Arya gives birth to Evandar

74 ADG – Mercury purges Ilirea and kills Elva, and Arya gives birth to Loivissa

79 ADG – Mercury gets his memory wiped

86 ADG – Mercury acquires the deed to Eregion

120 ADG – Mercury finishes construction of Nolondil

151 ADG – First sighting of the shade

162 ADG – Nolondil is chosen as a safe haven

170 ADG – Nolondil is sacked

171 ADG – The shade is killed and Mercury departs Alagaësia

237 ADG – Celiste gives birth to Helen

239 ADG – The Ra'zac Empire invades Alagaësia

246 ADG(spring) – The start of third story


	2. The Gilead meeting

This one was originally something that I considered to be written in between chapters 8 and 9(between the riders discovering who Mercury is and their later request for his aid in hunting the shade), but I eventually made the call to not do it because I believed it would slow the story down too much and would be easily summed up in a few lines at the start of chapter 9 instead.

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**The Gilead meeting**

**Mercury POV**  
The year was 162 ADG of the Mercurian calendar. It had been 162 years since the death of Galbatorix, 88 years since the conclusion of the Shadow War, 42 years since the establishment of the dragon rider outpost of Nolondil, and finally, but certainly not least, 11 years since the first sighting of the shade that had been terrorizing the countryside lately.

Mercury had travelled to Gilead to participate in the court meeting taking place there. The meeting had not been called due to the unrest that the shade had caused, although Mercury had no doubt that that would be on the agenda as well.

No, the meeting was simply the annual gathering of all the nobles in the Gilead province, where they would discuss the events of the previous year and make their plans for the next. Well, that, and then the ever present topic of the levying of taxes, which was actually how these meetings had started in the first place, and which was why they were always placed in the fall, when the harvest was done and the crops counted.

Mercury had chosen to wear a dark-grey robe to this meeting, which combined with his grey beard that reached down to the lower part of his stomach, made him stand out from most of the rest of the dignitaries present.

Most of the rest of the dignitaries were men and women in their late twenties or early thirties, though a few were older or younger. The reason for this spread was simple; the nobles were not required to attend the meeting personally. They simply had to send a representative to speak for them, which most of the more powerful and greater nobles did, as they did not deem the yearly meetings worthy of their time and therefore chose to either send a trusted capable servant, or, more commonly, their heirs, who had to learn how to govern and navigate politics.

The lesser nobles did not have such luxuries however, so they most often chose to come themselves. Mercury was included in the latter group. Not because he was a lesser noble, though he was, but more importantly because he had no heirs or trusted capable servants to do this for him.

This rule made sure that even if you only counted the age of his current persona, which was currently around 95, he was still the oldest of the assembled by far. In fact, he had been among the oldest from the very first time he first sat on one of these meetings nearly 42 years ago, and as such, he had been a participant in them for a longer time than most of the ones currently here had been alive.

His age was actually a concern that had been on his mind lately, as he was very well aware that it was unusual for humans in Alagaësia to get this old, but he had decided to wait with faking his death and creating a new persona to take over Nolondil until his current matters had been settled…well, at least until he found that damn crown of Palancar that had been eluding him for almost a decade and a half.

_I will have to do something more about that matter later_, Mercury mused, as he strode into the conference room and towards his seat.

The conference room was a large room of simple make, as was everything in the Gilead keep, and held only little tapestry and excessive furniture. What dominated the room was instead the large set of oak tables and plush chairs that filled up most of the room.

The tables were set in a sort of U-formation, where the Gilead Duke Johann, a middle-aged man with a brown full beard and a thinly build, sat in the middle of the bend, while the rest of the nobles were then seated downwards from there in accordance with their rank, then their wealth, and, if no other difference could be found, their personal relations with the Duke.

Mercury was situated fairly long down the left table, not that he minded at all. The reasons were simple; his noble title was only that of Lord of the Manor, a fairly low title that he only held due to his ownership of Eregion, and the amount of wealth that he openly published to have was far less than he actually had. Not that he would be situated at the top of the other Lords of the Manors even if he published all his holdings.

It took about fifteen more minutes before the rest of the representatives were seated and the meeting could start. At which time, half a dozen servants stepped forward and filled everyone's cups with wine, before Duke Johann finally rose from his seat, crystal wineglass in hand, and proclaimed the meeting for open with a toast to the assembled, which they all answered to, though no one rose from their seats. All of it in accordance with ancient traditions.

"Now, I would like to start with the first matter of business, as always; the levying of taxes", Duke Johann started cheerfully. He was not the one who would be levied, but the one levying, though a portion of it went to the royal treasury, "does anyone have any contributions?"

Mercury marked with his hand that he had one, as did several others both closer and farther away from the Duke. His marking was acknowledged with a small nod from one of the Duke's aides, who, after making sure that all had been noted, gave the word to the one seated closest to the Duke.

"Tölf Weather would like to petition for an extension, as our crops have grown thin this year, and the fishing industry is only just allowing our people to survive this winter", the actual Margrave of Tölf Weather said. He was most likely only here because of his request to get an extension.

It was ancient tradition that the representatives, or nobles if they were actually present, would only refer to their interests and opinions in the name of the region that they governed. It had originally been made as a symbolic gesture to show that they were speaking for the people of that region, and Mercury had found the entire notion amusing considering that he was the only citizen of his, but rules were rules and the novelty had soon worn off and been replaced with tradition.

"Gilead will allow it", Duke Johann said, "on the condition that your second daughter will agree to a betrothal with my youngest son".

That was the other most important, though in no way official, part of these meetings. More than half the arranged marriages between nobles were settled during these annual meetings. Mercury had luckily never had to play a part in that game, as he had been too old for marriage when he had first attended, and had had no sons or daughters to be bartered away like simple cattle.

It only took a short while for the Margrave to swallow that proposal, before he gratefully accepted. Having his daughter wed to a Duke's son, even the youngest one, was among the best outcomes for her after all, though he had probably hoped to have saved her for an alliance with another region and not as a way to get an extension on his taxes.

With the matter settled and no one protesting the outcome, the aide moved on to the next in line, and so it went on and on until Mercury's turn finally came.

"Eregion would like to once again petition that our taxes be levied in coin rather than crops, as our crop yield once again does not match the size of our region", Mercury stated fairly simply. It was a request that he had petitioned since his very first meeting, as taxes were supposed to be levied in crops in accordance with the size of your region.

Mercury's simple garden at Nolondil could never produce enough crops to pay the tax and still have anything left. To do that, he would have needed peasants and fields spread out on his mountain that he could then levy crops from and send to Gilead.

"Gilead will allow it with the usual conversion rate", Duke Johann agreed, though it was merely a formality by now.

A mark went up by the son of a baron situated further up the table opposite from Mercury's. The action immediately led to whispers among most of the rest of the nobles, as it was highly unusual to make objections to agreements not affecting your own region, especially on such a trivial matter as the almost traditional petition of conversion from crop to coin for Eregion.

It took a short while before the aide was able to calm everyone down and give the word to the noble making the objection.

"The city of Daret would like to question Eregion on how it year after year is able to pay the tax in coin rather than crops, despite it not having any denizens or mining industry to earn such coin", the baron's son spoke.

Now that was something that was almost unheard of. It was the silent consensus among nobles that so long as they were able to pay their bills, where they got the coin to do so from did not matter, unless it was through illegal measures or at the cost of other nobles.

What made the demand even stranger was that Daret was one of Mercury's usual import locations, where he ordered most of the things that he could not get from Norigo. It was simply bad for business for them to petition for an inquiry into the source of his income as long as he was able to pay his bills to them.

Mercury marked that he would like to have the word and was given it immediately by the aide, as no one further up the tables made a mark.

"Eregion would like to inquire upon the reasons for such a demand", Mercury asked with a slightly hardened tone to show his displeasure at the demand.

Mercury had been willing to let earlier of such snubs slide from the son, as he was fairly new to his position on these meetings and was still fairly young, but Mercury's leniency only went so far, and trying to have his accounts debited by the inquisitors was definitely crossing the line.

"Come on, everyone here knows that you are hiding your true holdings and backdoor dealings. I am just the only one willing to call you on it, you wretched warlock", the son rashly said. A stupid mistake on his part, and one which Mercury was only too happy to exploit, as he marked that he would like the word again.

"Eregion hereby requests that since the representative of Daret has chosen to take personal matters into these dealings and that no further matters concerning their own levying are present, the representative should be excused from the meeting until such time as the first order of business is settled among the rest of the representatives", Mercury requested in a clear and slightly condescending tone.

It was a testament to the respect and influence that Mercury had managed to build over the years that the son of the baron five minutes later found himself excused from the meeting by the request of someone from a much lower standing than himself, even when he was not the actual baron yet.

His father would no doubt be displeased by the news, as it was more than fairly shameful to be forced to excuse yourself from these meetings. Perhaps Mercury should move his imports away from Daret and all the way up to Therinsford as well. It would deepen the snub to deprive Daret of an income that had become almost as consistent in its budget as its own taxes.

Mercury was not usually particularly vindictive when it came to other's opinions of him, he was after all wholly aware of almost everyone's perception of him as a highly dangerous warlock. That however did not mean that he would take such accusations in front of the other nobles without teaching the boy proper court manners. Court manners being that they could whisper about him among themselves all they liked, as long as they kept an at least neutral façade when speaking to him.

Besides, he could always return his imports to Daret after a few years, if the boy learned to behave himself that is.

The rest of the day fared as could be expected; a few other fiefs were given permission to pay partly in other goods, such as timber or minerals, while other trade deals were made internally between the regions.

In the night, there was, as usual, a banquet hosted by Duke Johann, which consisted of three appetisers, four main courses and five different desserts, each one more lavish than the previous.

Mercury, as per an unusual tradition, found himself yet again watching the dancing couples from the side, wondering why he felt such an odd connection to such a simple act and whether he could have ever found a dancing partner if his life had turned out differently.

It was during these musings that the son of the baron of Daret approached him and publicly apologized for his behaviour at the meeting. News travelled fast it seemed, as this clearly had the mark of the baron all over it. It certainly was not the young man standing before him's idea, as could be easily seen by his body language, but whether the apology was sincere or not did not matter in court. All that mattered was that he had made it publicly and thereby acknowledged his mistake in front of others.

Maybe Mercury would not move his imports from Daret after all. After such swift and decisive damage control from the baron, it would only be seen as Mercury being unnecessarily vindictive by other nobles. Besides, further damaging his relationship with the baron of Daret was simply not worth the effort to teach the boy that just because he was higher in station, it did not mean that he could spit the lesser nobles in the face without suffering backlash.

Other than that, the night went by without much of a hassle, and the nobles once again found themselves situated in the conference room early the next day, with the son of the baron now present as well, as they were now done with the taxes.

Breakfast was served at the table by the same servants that had stood ready with refreshments the previous day, and no one was excused from participating, no matter how hung over they were, not if they wanted to be present for the rest of the meeting anyway.

Breakfast over and done with, they moved on to the next matter of state; the shade's recent terrorizing of the countryside.

"The High King has asked all provinces to raise the number of patrols", Duke Johann started the discussion like one would kick up a hornet's nest, which it did, as a little less than half of the gathered nobles all marked that they would like to have the word.

"Why should we care? It is the provinces of Narda and Teirm that has been hit the hardest anyway", the earl of Silverwater, a fishing village on the east side of Lake Isenstar, said.

Several similar contributions soon followed, which spawned a new wave of marks from most of the nobles that were located closer to the Spine, and therefore in more immediate danger. Mercury however chose to remain silent on the matter for now, despite being located in the Spine, as they were really not doing anything other than wasting time with their bickering, and he refused to help them with that.

It took half an hour before Duke Johann finally calmed everyone down and said, "I think that we can agree upon that the number of raised patrols should for now be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the Spine".

"How are you proposing that we pay for these?", the representative from Silverwater asked.

"Gilead proposes that a slight contribution from all the holds in the province should cover any expenses", Duke Johann stated, which raised another storm of indignant protests from the nobles whose lands were all safe and sound.

In the end, Duke Johann had to forcefully remind them that they, as a province, supported the whole, and that if the situation was opposite, they would be entitled to the same treatment. It was only after the others had finally fallen silent that Mercury marked that he would like to speak.

"Eregion would like to know what orders would be given to these patrols", Mercury requested, which was quickly answered by a rather relieved Duke Johann, whom had feared the start of another round of protests and refusals, "their orders would be like the rest of the patrols; to venture back and forth from village to city to village and make sure that the countryside is safe".

"Eregion believes these orders to be a waste of good men", Mercury rebutted, and upon an inquiry to explain, he clarified, "the nature of these orders would demand that should the patrol come across the shade, they would be forced to engage it. If we are to be frank, there is no way a simple patrol could ever take on a shade, especially not one as clever as this one has shown to be, and we would therefore merely be throwing lives needlessly away".

"What do you propose we do then?", a noble also from near the Spine asked after being given the word.

"Simple, we include another set of rules if such an encounter should ever happen", Mercury stated, "would it not be more wise to have the patrol merely observing where the shade is heading, while simultaneously sending word to the dragon riders about its current location, as well as warning any villages ahead of it, so that our losses might be lessened if nothing else?"

The suggestion was met with mostly either acceptance, or, as in the nobles from the eastern side of the province's cases, downright applause. No one could refute that a simple patrol of humans was no match for a shade after all.

And that seemed to conclude the topic of the shade for this year, as a lunch break was called and everyone was allowed to step outside to stretch their legs.

When they came back in however, it was to witness another participant to their meeting. Fagosh the dragon rider, or Fagosh the Grey as he was more commonly called, was standing at the end of their U-shaped tables.

_Strange_, Mercury mused, _the dragon riders usually do not interfere with these meetings unless something directly affects them, and I do not see what could be left that would be in their interests_.

His curiosity towards the new occupant was one that was evidently shared by most of the other nobles, but no one questioned Fagosh about his role there, as they knew that all would be explained when the meeting started up again.

"As all of you are probably aware, Fagosh the Grey has come here as an emissary of the dragon riders and the High King", Duke Johann said soon after everyone was seated, "it would probably be easier to let him explain why he is here himself".

Fagosh stepped forward, making his urgal heritage even more apparent by towering over the nobles closest to him, and in a clear voice, which gave no indication that what he was about to say was up for debate, he said, "it is the dragon riders' belief, as well as the High King's, that further measures should be taken in response to the shade's recent actions. It is therefore that it has been decided to create a number of strongholds to act as safe havens throughout the affected areas. The affected regions within your province are: the keep of Carvahall that has been tasked with being able to shelter the entirety of Palancar Valley, the castle city of Nolondil that has been similarly been tasked with the protection of the citizens ranging from Utgard down towards the Ninor river and down to Fläm lake, and finally Gilead is to be able to protect everyone east of the Ninor river".

That…came as quite the surprise. Apparently the dragon rider order and High King did not consider telling the affected regions before everyone else.

All was quiet for almost a full minute, before half a dozen different nobles began shouting questions at Fagosh, despite not waiting for their turn, but Fagosh remained completely motionless as he stood there. Mercury believed that that ability to not be affected by the storm of inquires was probably what had earned Fagosh the dubious honour of delivering these orders.

Eventually order returned to the room and most of the remarks were narrowed down to two questions; how where the proposed, or rather ordered, safe havens supposed to be able to pay for the preparations needed to be able to house several thousand refugees practically overnight, and, equally as important if the shouting was anything to go by, why was Nolondil chosen for this.

"How you pay will be up to you as a province", Fagosh easily answered the first question, "and as for why Nolondil has been chosen. The answer is simple; it is the only defensible location with enough room to house that amount of people in that entire area, as well as constantly having at least one dragon rider present".

Fagosh was forced to stay and mediate, as well as remind them several times that it was not a request, the entire day, before it was finally agreed upon to move the extra expenses in with the agreement on the extra patrols.

It was also decided upon what amount of storage each safe haven should have ready at any given time, as well as a number of other logistical problems all related to the new development.

By the end of it, Mercury believed that Fagosh looked like he was ready to stab himself right then and there, just to have an excuse to get away from all of these bickering nobles, but unlike Mercury, Fagosh got to leave after the matter had been settled. He even went so far as to decline an invitation to dinner just to be able to escape the clutches of nobility sooner.

The next day gave rise to the new topic on their agenda; the restoration and renewal of the infrastructure.

Long live being noble…


	3. The Northern Wastes

In celebration of having just completed my last exam this year, I have decided to post a sidestory that I have had lying around for some time for just this occasion. It is set between From the darkest of Shadow, a Light is born and my third story, which I have scheduled to begin posting around the beginning of July, and have luckily enough not had to set back for plans for that, so wait and enjoy.

Oh, and "_italics inside quotation marks means that the character is speaking in the native language of the region_"

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**The Northern Wastes**

**Mercury POV(226 ADG, Alalëa, The Northern Wastes)  
**The wind whipped around Mercury, bringing with it enough snow to cover any exposed surface within seconds. Ahead of him, the visibility was less than a few metres, if that much, and it was only due to the magical compass within his head that he was able to continue in a somewhat straight line.

His once prized and cherished sword now served the dubious honour of acting as a mixture of a walking stick and an anchor, as he thrust it deep into the snow ahead of him to provide a secure point to pull himself forward towards.

Another step forward brought him thigh-deep into the snow that covered everything around him. Behind him, he could already begin to see his own tracks begin to vanish again. Another gust of wind gripped the heavy grey woollen cloak that he had decided to bring with him, and tossed it around like a flag on a pole.

The cloak was practically useless in keeping him warm, as it whipped around him like that, doing more to strangle him than anything else, and Mercury could only find comfort in the fact that he had left most contents of his backpack down south of the 'border', as the line, which separated the eternally frozen wastes of northern Alalëa from the rest of the more temperate continent, was popularly called.

Instead, he had chosen to only bring with him the most essential things for this trip; a change of warm woollen clothes, some dried food and a few flasks to hold water in, which was located as close to his back and as insulated as possible to at least stall the freezing of the water.

As Mercury forced another step, he absentmindedly mused how it coincidentally was the very wind that slowed him down that also inadvertently kept him from getting hypothermia. He was completely sure that if he had not had to struggle to take each step, his body would never have generated the heat required to stave off the extreme coldness of this region, but then again, had he not struggled to take each step, he would be there by now.

No, he did not have the luxury to muse over such things now! As it was, the only thing that prevented him from collapsing right then and there was the promise that somewhere not too far ahead of him, Kilgharrah was waiting inside a cave that would shelter them for the night.

Thanks to the steady thug of the mental compass pointing towards Kilgharrah, Mercury could feel himself getting just a little bit closer with each step. _Less than a hundred metres more_, Mercury forced his body to comply to take yet another step, which again brought him thigh-deep in yet more snow.

It was Kilgharrah that had volunteered to scout ahead and find shelter for the night, despite being grounded due to the blizzard, but since then, the wind had picked up and now Kilgharrah would not even be able to leave the sanctity of the cave without being tossed around like a ragdoll.

For what seemed to be the thousandth time, Mercury cursed his own stupidity and arrogance for not adhering to the advice of Shoran and waiting for spring to make this trip.

Shoran had been an elder in the inland city of Helgrind on the edge of the 'border', which Mercury had first visited a little more than two weeks ago. His original purpose for coming had actually been curiosity at the choice of name for the city. The Gates of Death was as unusual as a name for a city could be.

Now however, Mercury had a pretty decent understanding of what had prompted its inhabitants to name it as such. It was not for nothing that Mercury had since learned that the cruellest form of punishment, which was available in Helgrind, was to be sent north across the 'border' during winter with nothing but the clothes on your back to keep you alive.

It was not that The Northern Wastes were completely uninhabited. There were quite a few tribes living near the significantly milder climate of the coastline, but those were all nomadic tribes that wandered from place to place in accordance with their herds and the fishes and whales that they hunted, except for that one time of the year, where they sent caravans down to Helgrind to trade furs, oils, ivory and some other things that only existed in The Northern Wastes.

That was actually the primary reason why Helgrind was not just another small hobble of a village, as so many others this far north were, but was instead a thriving city on par with Teirm.

When Mercury had first arrived there, the reaction from the inhabitants had been the usual surprise, quickly followed by suspicion and hostility. It was only to be expected however, as the only humans that the people of Alalëa encountered were the almost annual raiding parties that terrorized the southern coastline.

Mercury had quickly learned that it was a good idea to keep Kilgharrah away from his first encounters with new people, as they were wary enough of him alone as it was, but add an unknown giant creature like a dragon into the fray, and they might just attack on sight.

With only him there, they were at least almost always confident enough in their own abilities and numbers to realize that he posed no immediate threat to them. Still, prejudices were hard to override, so after assuring them in first their native tongue, the urgal language, Mercury had also found that their shock at being addressed like that never lost its amusement, as well as a pledge in their second tongue, the Ancient language, that he had no wish to cause them harm, they usually brought him before either the village elder or the city's ruler to let him decide what to do with Mercury.

That usually ended up in Mercury agreeing to prove that he wished no harm upon them by having him perform some sort of errand or task that would aid the city or village in one way or another. Still, he had time enough, and of the major cities in Alalëa, it was actually only the city of Helgrind that he did not have a rite of passage to, yet.

This time however, the anax, loosely translated to male ruler of a city state, of the city had not done as so many others and sent Mercury on some errand or another that he was planning on having someone else resolve anyway, but had instead just redirected him to the highest tower in the main keep, where he had been told that his fate would be decided.

That was where Mercury had met Shoran, who had not even flinched at the arrival of what looked to be a human inside his chambers. Shoran had quickly struck Mercury as someone who, despite not having any official position of power, still expected people to listen when he said something.

Mercury had quickly decided that if he could, he would much rather have this man owe him a favour than the anax, but first he had had to convince him to even allow him free passage inside the city.

THAT had been the second indicator for Mercury that he definitely should pay attention to the elder, as Shoran had played the game of offering and giving so nicely that it had ended up being Mercury asking him for a chance to prove his sincerity, instead of the usual way these things went, where Mercury had been told what to do to prove himself.

And so, Shoran had mentioned, not told Mercury that he wanted him to do it, just mentioned that he was in short supply of something that only existed on the summits of some of the mountains of The Northern Wastes.

Mercury had immediately told Shoran that he would just go get some for him, which had prompted Shoran to advice Mercury to postpone the trip until spring, where the winter lessened and there was only the sporadic blizzards to worry about, instead of the four month long continuous blizzard that supposedly wrecked the inland of The Northern Wastes all through winter.

Mercury had chosen to ignore the warnings and had promptly made a vow in the urgal tongue that he would return shortly with the desired objects. He had internally reasoned that people always exaggerated when it came to things like these, and since he had had some experience with the frozen northern parts of Alagaësia before coming to Alalëa, he was sure that he would be fine.

As it had turned out, Shoran had not been exaggerating when describing the conditions during this time of year, and Mercury had quickly realized that his only way of surviving this cold was to migrate from shelter to shelter during the day, before curling up next to Kilgharrah to share body heat during the much colder nights.

He could have turned back, he probably should have too, but something stopped him from doing so. What stopped him was partly that he had given his word that he would make the trip now, going back on one's word like that would definitely not earn him any points, but even more than that, he found that it was sheer stubbornness to not surrender to some wilderness that kept him going.

That was another thing that Mercury had learned about himself during his half a century of travelling the world and rediscovering himself; he was stubborn, often to a fault, but then again, stubbornness was just something that could be harnessed into one of the most powerful of tools if treated correctly.

Like right now for example, where his stubbornness to not be beaten by nature was used to propel his slow march forward towards the safety of the cave.

Mercury was so consumed by his errant thoughts that he did not spot the sudden rise of the snow-white wall right in front of him until he literally bumped his head into it. Another reason, one that he would give Kilgharrah if ever asked about it, was that the low visibility, combined with the snow that covered the side of the mountain ahead of him, made it damn near impossible to see.

It took a few moments for Mercury to realize that, despite his inner compass pulling him straight ahead like an entire team against a single opponent in a tug of war, the promised cave was in fact not somewhere ahead of him, but rather upwards from his current location.

_I definitely need to get reheated if I take this long to figure out something so simple_, Mercury mused, as he sheathed his sword on his back and began his ascent.

The ascent seemed simpler than he had first feared, as the snow on the cliff actually helped him, rather than hinder him. Mercury would dig a hole into the somewhat solid snow with his blacksmith-gloved hands, which he would then first use to grab a hold of and anchor him, while his other hand dug another hole, and his feet used the holes further down to secure his footing.

Mercury's hands were first covered with a pair of leather gloves, then a pair of woollen ones, before finally there was a pair of blacksmith gloves. The reason for the blacksmith gloves was that Mercury had reasoned that since they were used to prevent the high heat from blacksmithing from reaching the blacksmith's hands, they should do the trick as well with keeping the extreme cold away.

Even with all of this insulation, Mercury could still feel his hands beginning to numb, an aspect that could prove quite lethal in his current situation. More than once, the wind had already almost pulled him straight off of the cliff and down towards his death.

It took about a quarter of an hour more, before finally, the ascent stopped and gave way to a somewhat horizontal surface. As he slowly got up on the horizontal surface, extremely careful not to slip on the slippery ice that covered it, Mercury could finally see the cave that was supposed to be their shelter for the night.

He counted himself lucky that he had made it in time, as the last rays of the sun were just beginning to disappear. Mercury did NOT want to spend a night in the open in this climate.

A pair of grey orbs staring out at him and a small burst of crystalline flames from inside the cave were all Mercury needed to know for certain that this was in fact the specified cave that Kilgharrah had chosen.

_Good evening to you too, Kilgharrah_, Mercury grumbled tiredly, as he ventured further into the cave and away from the harsh winds of the blizzard.

_You are late_, Kilgharrah stated in an irritated voice, _I was just about to go out looking for you_.

_Yeah, and how would that have turned out, hmm?_¸Mercury responded somewhat grumblingly, _the wind would have picked you up and thrown you around like a leaf, but let us not argue over something as simple as this. I could use a bit of heat to unfreeze my clothes_.

The only parts of Mercury's clothes that were in fact not frozen solid were the parts that were constantly in motion. The rest of them had been frozen and then covered in a nice layer of snow.

_Why do you not remove that piece of cloth on your face first?_, Kilgharrah asked in regard to the black, although it was currently white with snow, woollen scarf that covered Mercury's face and prevented it from going completely numb.

_I cannot, it is completely frozen_, Mercury responded, _and do not even think of unfreezing it with your flames. I very much like my eyebrows as they are_.

_Spoilsport_, Kilgharrah grumbled amusedly, before he proceeded to bathe a layer of stone in crystalline flames until it was glowing red with heat.

Mercury thanked Kilgharrah, before he sat himself close enough to the layer to feel the heat, but not so close that he would be scorched by it. After reheating, which brought a blissful sigh out of Mercury; he proceeded to gather some of the dried and frozen meat from both his own backpack and from Kilgharrah's packs and cooked it over the glowing layer of stone, while simultaneously using the stones and a metal pot to melt and boil some of the snow into useable drinking water.

When they had both had their fill, and Kilgharrah had reheated the stones near the entrance of the cave to keep out the steadily increasing coldness of the night, Mercury curled up next to Kilgharrah's belly to sleep, while Kilgharrah laid a protective wing atop of him to further shield him from the cold.

It was during these moments that Mercury almost felt glad that he had chosen to ignore Shoran's advice and venture out during the winter. The harshness of the day made him value these rare moments eternally more than he otherwise had in decades.

Mercury was almost sure that it was some sort of primal pleasure to curl up near another warm form and know that the bitter coldness was just a few metres away, but he did not let that knowledge taint how very relaxed that made him feel.

They stayed in that cave for the next four days, as this was one of the mountains that contained what they originally came here for. The reason behind staying in the cave, instead of venturing up to the summit to collect what they needed, was that, despite the weather not changing much for the past two weeks, Mercury still believed that it would at least lessen up a little, so that Kilgharrah might join him on the summit, and the risk of being blown off of the mountain during his ascent at least lessened.

As it turned out, the weather did not lessen. In fact, if anything, it became worse, so in order to not waste any more of their precious few supplies, Mercury decided to scale the mountain on his own on the fifth day.

The trip further up the mountain was no less perilous than the trip up to the cave on the first day. Luckily, Mercury had not brought his backpack with him on this trip, as he would return to the cave before nightfall, so the weight was significantly lessened.

The farther up Mercury got, the worse the visibility seemed to become, until the time came where he literally could not see his own hand right in front of him. At this time though, it did not matter, as Mercury had long since stopped relying on his eyes for guidance, and instead begun feeling his way forward like a blind.

As he continued his ascent, his hand suddenly found that instead of the continued wall of snow and ice that he had expected, there was suddenly…air? Further examination revealed that to his surprise, the summit of the mountain was actually a flat almost smooth surface.

When Mercury's head was finally brought up to the level of the summit, he found that he could suddenly see everything around him. Gone were the zero visibility and the falling of snow that had prevented his sight earlier. The wind also seemed to be far less oppressing up here, as Mercury hoisted the rest of his body up on the flat surface.

The summit itself was breathtakingly beautiful, having an almost completely flat circular surface with a radius of at least a few hundred metres or so. Granted, snow still covered the surface, but it was far less than down on the ground, and opposite to the ground, there were tiny snow-covered green bushes spread out all across the summit.

What truly stole his breath was however not the view of the summit itself, but rather the view around it. Less than half a metre below the edge of the summit, the clouds, which covered all the land as far as the eye could see, seemed to simply stop, like viewing an uneven layer of snow flowing out from the summit.

In the distance, Mercury could spot a few mountains with summits just like this one. Some were as high as the one he was on, while others were higher, and others that he could not see for the clouds, were probably lower.

This view…this view made the entire trip itself seem worth it. Mercury, having completely forgotten why he was even there, thought about showing it to Loivissa in his next letter, but ultimately decided against it. No painting, or even a fairth for that matter, could ever capture this view and hope to even do it a modicum of respect. It was something that you simply had to see with your own eyes if you wanted to fully appreciate it.

As this thought crossed Mercury's mind, he reached out and prodded at Kilgharrah's mind. Kilgharrah quickly let him in, after which Mercury explained to him that he needed to show him something.

When Kilgharrah looked through Mercury's eyes, Mercury could feel that the dragon was equally as impressed with the sight as Mercury was, and that he shared the sentiment that it was a shame that he could not see it with his own eyes.

It was not until half an hour later, when Kilgharrah, as the first to snap out of his stupor of the view, reminded Mercury of why he was there in the first place.

_Oh, right. Thanks_, Mercury responded as he shook his head to clear the stupor, before he turned around and drew one of the small empty cloth bags from his belt.

Mercury then approached one of the snow-covered bushes, where he gently rustled it to make the snow drop from it. The bush itself was hardly more than a metre high, although its branches stretched out at least three quarters of a metre at every side of it. The branches themselves were covered with tiny green needles and occasionally had a small pinecone or two on it.

It was the needles that Mercury had been told to bring back, but he had gotten a stern warning to plant at least two pinecones for every bush that he harvested the needles from. Understanding the wish to keep the population up, Mercury harvested enough needles from the bushes to fill the four cloth bags that he had brought with him, before he planted thrice the amount of pinecones than the amount of bushes that he had harvested needles from.

_These needles better be some damn important part of a medicine for people to actually go up here and collect them_, Mercury mused to himself, as he took one last look at the magnificent view, before beginning his descent down the mountain.

It took another two weeks before Mercury finally saw Helgrind on the horizon again. Coming from the northern side this time, Mercury saw that the gates to the north were massive, standing more than five metres high and four metres wide. The double gates towards the north were made of bronze with ivory decorating the exterior with images of white bears and different kinds of whales.

Mercury had of course seen the gates on his way out the first time, but coming from The Northern Wastes, a land where everything that was not essential to your survival or your village's prestige was left behind, he could clearly see how this blatant display of craftsmanship and wealth could startle any trader the first time around.

As Mercury crossed the threshold back into civilization, to the surprise of quite a few of the guards that had been there when he left four weeks ago, Kilgharrah circled the forests south of Helgrind in search of fresh prey to eat. Even if Mercury was allowed to freely wander around the cities of Alalëa, he had still kept Kilgharrah out of sight from most of the inhabitants. Only a select few had been allowed to even see him, as Mercury and Kilgharrah were both quite nervous about whether they would immediately attack Kilgharrah on sight, before they would then send word to the rest of the city states of Kilgharrah's presence.

When Mercury finally reached the door leading into Shoran's chambers, he rolled his shoulders to ease some tension, before he knocked on the wooden door.

For a while there was no sound from within, and Mercury was just about to knock again, when the door suddenly swung open to reveal Shoran. His dark-grey skin, horns on his head that curved only slightly in comparison with the urgals', his long smooth light-grey hair that bespoke of his age and finally, his lean body that could have belonged to both a runner, as well as a martial artist.

All of these traits were so typical for the race of this continent, and all of them reminded Mercury of their ancient ancestors. It never ceased to amuse Mercury how very wrong the intertwined histories of the elves and urgals were back in Alagaësia, although he had never actually mentioned this to Loivissa in any of his letters. He had simply never found the time to go into such details in their sparse correspondence, nor had he found a reason to, as it had nothing to do with life in Alagaësia.

Shoran, sensing that Mercury had drifted off, promptly whacked Mercury on the head with a hand, before he grunted, "_I see that you are still alive. Did the wilderness perhaps prove too much for you, so you turned back?", _before he retreated back into his chambers, but left the door open.

Mercury quickly followed him inside, before he withdrew the four filled cloth bags from his backpack, threw them onto a nearby tea table and said, "_You wound me. I said that I would bring them back, did I not?_"

Shoran glanced at the bags, snorted and then brought out a tea set to rest next to the bags, before he said, "_hmrph, I did not expect you to be foolish enough to try this. To be honest, I thought that you would either turn back once you were a few days into the trip, or die somewhere in the wilderness from your stupidity_".

"_As you can see, I did neither_", Mercury responded in a slightly smug voice, before he took the proffered seat in one of the plush chairs next to the tea table and in front of the roaring hearth, where a cauldron of water was close to boiling.

Shoran took the cauldron off of the fire, poured some water from it into the teapot and placed the cauldron back in hearth, before he seated himself in the other plush chair next to the tea table. He then looked into one of the cloth bags with the pine needles, before he said, "_describe to me the view from the summit_".

"_I could try and describe it, but nothing I would say could ever hope to do it justice_", Mercury responded with a faraway look in his eyes, "_it is one of the things that you have to see or else you will not understand it_".

"_So you were actually there then_", Shoran replied, which made Mercury realize that this had actually been the test for whether he had done as promised, or whether he had tried to procure fakes, "_would you like some tea?_"

"_That would be nice_", Mercury responded with a renewed sense of importance to maintaining a healthy relationship with this individual. He might not have an official seat of power, but people listened when he spoke, and he had the brains to challenge Mercury in intellectual debates and provide adequate counsel when needed.

Perhaps Mercury could even teach him chess one day? It had been ages since he had last played his favourite game after all. Kilgharrah had never had the greatest interest in the concept of the game and had also turned out to be quite a sore loser.

Shoran then did something that Mercury certainly had not expected; he grabbed a few needles from one of the sacks and crushed them in his palm, before dropping them into the steaming water in the tea pot.

The action left Mercury speechless, as he stared dumbfounded at Shoran's actions. Shoran on the other hand seemed to be greatly amused by Mercury's reaction, as he cockily said, "_What? These needles make the best tea in all of Alalëa. The most expensive too, because of the difficulty of procuring them_".

"_You made me get tea?_", Mercury asked in shock.

"As I recall, _you were the one that offered to do so_", Shoran replied with great mirth, which he very badly managed to contain, "_I only told you that my supplies were low_".

For a long moment, Mercury simply sat there, completely still except for the occasional slight twitch of his right eye. He had gone through all of that for…bloody tea?!

Then the moment passed and Mercury threw his head back in laughter. He could not explain exactly why, but he had never found it so amusing to know that not only had he purposely gone through all of that for something as completely redundant as tea, but he had even volunteered to do it without ever asking why the elder needed it.

It took another few minutes for Mercury to finally compose himself again, before he accepted the now filled tea cup. Yes, he was definitely going to maintain relations with this one! Who knows, perhaps he would even be allowed to meet Kilgharrah.

Mercury took an experimental sip of his tea, which he found to be both quite good tasting, as well as somehow making him feel relaxed, before he asked, "_so what now?"_

"_Now that I know that I can trust you to keep your word, even in the most foolish of circumstances, I have a favour to ask of you. I would normally offer coins for someone else to do this, but you do not strike me as a person interested in that sort of reward, so let us say that if you accept, I will owe you a favour_", Shoran replied, while blowing on his own tea to help cool it a little, before he took a sip, "_a small village to the southeast of here, which we often do trade with, has not responded to any of our messages lately, and all of the merchant caravans headed towards it have yet to return. The anax has asked me to look into the matter, but as I am not as young as I used to be, I would like you to investigate and resolve the matter on my behalf. Since the raiders have never been this far north, or inland for that matter, I, at the worst, expect it to be the work of a band of bandits, but be careful under any circumstances. The bandits of this land may be few and far in between, but they are clever and brutal when it comes to overpowering their targets. Prepare for ambushes_".

Mercury took another thoughtful sip of his tea, before he began speaking, "_I leave in the morning._ _Tell me of the countryside on my way there_".

* * *

So, what did you think? The story will have some relevance for the third story, although I will not go into exactly what, as that is a surprise, but reading this is not essential to understanding the third story, just me giving some background story for anyone interested.

Until July then


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